Setting up and running an agritourism business requires a wide range of knowledge (agriculture, legal and tax aspects, promotion and marketing, customer service, languages, IT, etc.), which cannot be acquired as a whole because neither universities nor VET centres offer this specific training. The professionalization of tourism is a key factor, which requires continuous training at all stages, but especially when launching the business. This is particularly important for people running farms, who usually do not have a business background. The STAY project aims to fill that gap.
STAY is the short name for “Still Tourism Around Yard” (2022-1-SI01-KA220-VET-000087663), a 36-month Erasmus+ VET project about agritourism developed from November 2022 to October 2025 in Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Czech Republic. It was funded with €400,000 budget through the Slovenian Erasmus+ National Agency.
The consortium was led by Biotehniški Center Naklo (SI), being integrated by seven partners from six European countries overall: COAG-Jaén (ES), OnProjects (ES), ASZ-CZ (CZ), CIA Toscana (IT), Adere-PG (PT), and ELO (BE).
This international partnership among organisations representing different expertise and profiles (farming associations, VET providers in the farming sector, rural development and tourist association, landowners, and IT expert) regarding agritourism provided different approaches to the topic, which produced useful results for a variety of contexts.
The main objective of STAY is training farmers to start up and manage agritourism businesses, as a complement to farming income, with an offer linked to the territory and its natural and cultural resources, by a two-way approach: addressing teachers, trainers, advisors, professionals (indirect); and farmers and stockbreeders living in rural and remote areas (direct). Related objectives are generating local awareness by enhancing the tourist value of rural heritage, promoting proactive entrepreneurial spirit by encouraging multifunctionality, retaining young people in rural areas and exchanging experiences among participants.
Several activities have been developed, such as a summary report on agritourism based on national reports from the partners, a specific up-to-date professional VET training curriculum on agritourism, the e-learning platform for professionals and entrepreneurs which includes 18 European case studies and training modules, a 25-hours training meeting for trainers, transnational project meetings, national dissemination conferences, and other dissemination activities (such as website, leaflet, mailing, newsletter, social media, etc.).
Do you know what STAY stands for? S is for “still”, “slow”, “sustainable”. T is for “tourism”. A is for “around”, “agriculture”. Y is for “yard”, “you”.
Thus STAY aims to go back to basics. STAY does not aim to foster any kind of tourism, but that which has the farm and the rural world as its main factor of attraction for tourists. Nearness and agriculture are key factors, as well as living experiences on the farm that allow tourists to connect with themselves.
You can visit the STAY project website and its learning platform for further information.
Follow our blog and social media channels for other topic-related projects. Your comments are really welcome.
